


Petty Thief

by Snorp_Lord



Series: OC Collection [2]
Category: Original Work
Genre: Character Study, more of this whoohoo, since this guy is coming back in the future, wink wink
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-10-11
Updated: 2019-10-11
Packaged: 2020-12-09 10:44:23
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,688
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/20993513
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Snorp_Lord/pseuds/Snorp_Lord
Summary: Matthew doesn't go to parties just to drink and flirt, but getting caught can lead to interesting introductions.





	Petty Thief

Matt had been fairly productive that day. Something about parties made him like that. The beautiful people, the great conversation, there was this air of elegance not usually found in ‘middle of nowhere’ type resorts. Most days in a hotel lobby there would be a something a little oppressive hanging in the air; something about the knowledge that your holiday would end soon enough bothered people. But every so often, some snarky Wall Street wannabe would get bored of swimming in gold or feasting on swans, or whatever the insanely wealthy did, and then it came time to throw a party.

This one was supposedly an annual affair. Matt wouldn’t know himself, since this was his first visit. Perhaps he’d return if this trip proved profitable. Not too soon, though. He liked to be careful. A good trait in a thief. Regrettably, he would have to pass on next year, even if that lovely lady at the reception was true to her word and kept him a room aside. Coming back too often was likely to get him arrested, and that meant prison- especially once they connected the dots and found how much he had... ‘liberated' from bigshots over the years. 

One of the newcomers running this was a fresh face for him. Spencer Baldwin, some douchebag who got rich buying shares in technology companies and would never have to worry about where his next yacht was coming from ever again. The one next to him on the flyer was worrying, though. Hayden Ross made a name for himself running a law firm for fellow rich douches to put guys like Matt in prison for a very long time, and Matt had made it a point to stay very much off his radar. If there was one thing that would probably get a case brought against him, it would be stealing from anyone Ross cared about- or rather, acknowledged the existence of. So if Ross got a new drinking buddy, they were safe...for the most part.

Big events were the exception. Since there were plenty of people around, he could grab some devices, maybe a wallet or two, and then bounce, with the excuse that he had indulged in a little too much free champagne. That would sort him for a while. Geek conferences were always easy money anyway. Nobody wanted to show up to one of these brandishing a Nokia, so the latest huge smartphones jutted out of every pocket. Come on. How was he supposed to resist? Granted, having thousands of pounds worth of hardware vanish from Ross’ conference might piss him off a little, but again, there were plenty of people around. Nobody could pin it on a guy who didn’t even have a ticket, right?

With that worry out of his mind, Matt grabbed a glass of champagne as he passed a waiter, then a tablet from the man next to him. Smashed screen, tut tut tut. That thing was easily worth $500 second hand, but his best bet now was to sell it for parts. Oh well. He slipped back into the crowd as the man snapped his head up to shout about his missing property.

Another phone had been left on a table with no-one in sight to supervise. That was just asking for it, right? While walking past, he slid it into his laptop bag. There was no actual laptop in there. Unfortunate, but the only people who had brought computers down to the conference room were working on them. The crowd was helpful for hiding, but it probably wouldn’t do much if he wandered up to someone and took something straight out of their hands.

He’d done that once, when he was much younger. Some television show or another had tried to warn people that they needed to mind their phones, to keep a vice grip on them while scrolling in public spaces. A clip had played of some shady figure in a hoodie snatching up a precious device and sprinting away. Matt had taken it as a suggestion, with only some cosmic coincidence letting him get away.

Thinking about it, he got away with a lot that he really shouldn’t have been able to. With all the impromptu chases he’d ended up in over the years, it was a miracle nobody had…caught him on tape or something.

“Excuse me, sir?” a slim finger poked him hard in the shoulder and it took all his willpower not to jump. Millions of possibilities flashed through his mind as he turned around. He really hoped this wasn’t security, coming to kick him out. How ironic. Much as he wanted to scoff at the idea of tempting fate, he was willing to suspend his disbelief for a moment in favor of trying to plan ahead. Then again, it might not even be them.

“Excuse me?”

Maybe it was an ex? That could get awkward fast. Matt had briefly skimmed through the guest list before coming, and none of the names rang a bell, so he assumed he was going to be safe. But then again, it wasn’t that hard to get in unnoticed. Might as well get it out of the way. Reluctantly, he turned around.

“You dropped this.”

Oh. Stood in front of him was a young woman with a dark fringe covering her eyes. The rest of her hair hung down to her knees like a silk curtain, wrapped around her back protectively. Quick glances told him everything he needed to know. Red uniform, sensible shoes, neutral stance. Hotel staff. Nothing about her said that she was missing anything valuable (at least, as far as she knew). She held out a crumpled drinks receipt. 

Time for an intelligent response. “Huh?”

What could be seen of her face was unimpressed. “The receipt. It’s yours, isn’t it, sir?”

“Well then. Thanks for...bringing it back. Guess I’ll just...” Matt reached out to take the paper, unconsciously shielding his bag. His hand only got so far before it was locked in a vice grip.

Uh-oh.

“Speaking of returning property,” the woman began. Pulling at his arm got him nowhere. “How about you be a good boy and put back all the nice people’s things?”

What?

Matt realized, after half a second of blissful ignorance, that she knew something. His mind instantly entered panic mode. Was she following him around? Did he steal something from her? Had she called anyone else?

Regardless- not good, not good, not good! He went pale, before defaulting to the usual plan: play dumb. Still tugging as inconspicuously as possible, Matt answered: “Wh-What are you talking about? What things?”

Somehow, she managed to look even less impressed. Sighing, she continued in a voice you might use for a particularly slow child. “The things you stole. Put them back and we’ll have no further issues. Keep your voice down while you’re at it, too. Wouldn’t want to make a scene, after all.”

Matt froze. She didn’t just know something, she knew everything. He was, in a word, screwed. “Look, s-seriously! Let go! I don’t know what you’re talking about!” He stepped back a little, and she came with him, eyebrows raised. It felt like trying to tow a bus. Those uniforms must have been extremely flattering.

“Please don’t insult my intelligence. And as I said, keep. It. Down.” She practically growled the last word. Seemed like she was more worried about drawing attention to herself than he was. With that in mind, he re-assessed.

Playing dumb wasn’t working, clearly. Time for a change of tactics. He pulled one more time, just on the off chance she might have gotten bored of slowly breaking his wrist, and gave up on the idea of disappearing. Instead, he summoned up the power of every Karen, Janet and Linda who’d ever asked to speak to the manager.

“Look, I don’t know where you got these ridiculous accusations from, but if you don’t let go immediately, I will report you to your supervisor!”

With a slight sigh, she shook her head. “Feel free. I would have to have them check your suspiciously computer-free laptop bag, though.” Shit. She wasn’t buying it, was she? He got the distinct sense she was rolling her eyes behind the fringe. Maybe not the best idea, then. And now there were people beginning to notice their odd conversation. Occasional glances slid over to them before none-too-subtly slipping over to a very interesting section of carpet. “We can talk elsewhere if you really want to keep going with this.”

Suddenly, being in the dead center of a crowd was less appealing than it had been earlier.

“Actually, I’d kinda prefer it if you could just...let me go?”

“I’m afraid there’s very little chance of that, my sticky-fingered friend,” someone said right next to his ear. Matt let out a noise akin to what you might hear if you accidentally sat on a pet, or a small child. When he whipped around to look, he was greeted by a young man also in hotel uniform. At a glance, the two seemed almost identical. Unlike the girl, however, his mouth was tilted upwards in a grin- though his eyes were also covered by a thick fringe. “Apologies for Noel. She’s a little uptight when it comes to hotel security.” 

He turned to her. “Surely it would have been faster to simply take the devices back?” 

“Not if it means this little rat comes back to steal things from the paying clientele again. And if word gets out…” 

“Then why not simply bar him? I can handle public relations. Especially as far as Misters Baldwin and Ross.”

Noel’s face flushed red. She didn’t answer, but finally let go. Something about it made Matt think of the bullying older sibling getting told off by Dad, and he snickered as he moved closer to the newcomer. Much as he wanted to, he didn’t pull a face at Noel. “Wasn’t so hard, was it? Now, you, follow me,” he gestured in Matt’s general direction and didn’t wait for a response before heading for the balcony.


End file.
